“I was on the bench and we started losing and Coach Huggins called a timeout and he was screaming and I really took that to heart,” Jennings said. “Those guys were nothing compared to the guys in the Big East. We needed to go out there and kill them. Every game I should be killing everyone.”

I’m pretty sure I said this before — and I’m not bragging; I’m simply reminding you — but you’re going to like Dan Jennings. He might scare you a little (see above) but he may also excite you.

A lot.

His story is unmistakably startling. I don’t know anyone who saw that speech and wasn’t moved, troubled or impressed. That’s a kid you root for, no matter what uniform he’s wearing. If you’re a WVU fan, you’re in for a treat. Jennings can play. He can help this eighth-ranked WVU team that just might need him right now in a suddenly thin frontcourt.

Obsessed with only three things — protecting his basket, rebounding every ball he can see and getting two dunks per game — he debuted Sunday with nine points, 12 rebounds, three blocks and three dunks and altered the game twice to quite literally help the Mountaineers past Loyola (Md.).

“I felt like we were having a terrible showing at the beginning, but thank goodness we had Danny Jennings on our side,” Butler said.

“I’m not going to lie. He made plays that got me going. I got excited just seeing what he was doing.”

These freshmen were supposed to ease into things. Jennings may not have that luxury. The Mountaineers lost freshman forward Deniz Kilicli to a ridiculous NCAA suspension last week. Devin Ebanks was not with the team last night because of a person issue.

(Aside: No details available. Huggins is committed to silence. His players are fiercely loyal to both coach and teammate and said they need him to come back to the team. There’s one story I’m hearing a lot. It would seem to fall under “personal issue” and be something Ebanks has to fix. No need to speculate here, OK?)

And then John Flowers, who people were saying was perhaps the most improved player, hurt his foot so badly he went to the hospital in the first half to get it X-rayed. The result was negative — which is a positive — but we’re not yet sure how good he’ll be for The Citadel Tuesday or the 76 Classic later next week.

So, yes, Jennings could very well be needed contributor with his unselfish brand of contributions

“I go block shots, rebound and attack the offensive boards every time, hard,” Jennings said. “It’s better than scoring. If you go out there and get offensive rebounds, you can still have 10 (points) and 10 (rebounds) and have a good game.”